1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to liquid dispensing devices, and more particularly to a liquid dispensing unit designed to be adhered to the exterior of a refrigerator so as to allow chilled liquid stored inside the refrigerator to be accessed from the exterior.
2. Description of Related Art
Invention and use of liquid dispensing devices is known to the public, as they are commonly used to provide convenient access to a variety of liquids, particularly water. There are numerous different types of water dispensing devices designed to fulfill a wide variety of different needs. In many office and residential settings, it is desirable to have a dispenser capable of dispensing chilled water. Free-standing dispensers with internal cooling systems have been invented to fulfill these needs. However, such dispensing devices are plagued with many problems. First of all, in order to contain an entire cooling system and be of a height for convenient access of the water, these devices generally have a relatively large, space-consuming configuration. In addition, such dispensers are generally designed to accept an inverted five-gallon water bottle. When full, these bottles are quite heavy, making it difficult or impossible for many people to lift and properly position full bottles.
Dispensing devices designed to be interconnected with a refrigerator significantly improve over these free-standing dispensers in that they require no extra space and no lifting of heavy water bottles. One example of such a device is seen in Pink U.S. Pat. No. 3,834,178. Pink discloses an unpressurized container for dispelling chilled water from a freezer-refrigerator or the like. The container is connected into a water supply line through a valve upstream of the container. The container itself consists of a pair of elongated tanks disposed one above the other and constructed so as to impede mixing of warm water entering the lower tank with chilled water in both tanks as the chilled water is drawn off through an outlet from the upper tank.
Schmidt U.S. Pat. No. 5,269,154 teaches a closure with an ice dispensing apparatus having an ice chute operatively associated with a discharge opening. The closure includes a door case having a front wall of a size and shape corresponding to the opening and a rearwardly turned perimeter wall connected to the front wall and having an outwardly turned flange. An insulation core is disposed within the perimeter wall rearwardly of the front wall. A gasket engages the opening incident to the closure being in the closed position. A resistance heater is positioned in the door case between the front wall and the insulation to prevent sweating of the closure. True U.S. Pat. No. 4,739,629, and White U.S. Pat. No. 3,429,140 also disclose similar water dispensing apparatus.
However, all of these devices, as disclosed, are designed only for implementation within a refrigerator, and, in fact, their construction and installation is so complex that they virtually must be built into a refrigerator upon construction. Therefor, these devices are of little practical value for those people who already own refrigerators that do not have built-in dispensers. Thus, several water dispensing devices have been invented that can be incorporated within a pre-existing refrigerator. For example, Parker U.S. Pat. No. 3,024,621 discloses a water cooling apparatus kit for supplying water to a storage container and dispenser within a refrigerator. A supply water tube is flattened where it passes the door. The device may be applied or installed within a conventional refrigerator in common use today without any modification of the refrigerator construction.
Cobb et al. U.S. Pat. No. 2,982,114 teaches a similar apparatus to that of Parker, but the water supply is conducted into the refrigerator through the rear wall. A novel constant level arrangement is used so that the storage tank does not need to be pressurized, to displace water in the tank through a standpipe, the level in the tank remaining the same before, during and after dispensing.
However, with both of these devices, the .door of the refrigerator must be open to access the water. This is undesirable, especially in frequent water use environments, as it is not convenient for the user and repeated opening of the refrigerator causes the temperature within the refrigerator to rise. An additional drawback of all prior art dispensing devices is that they are designed only for dispensing water, and cannot be used to dispense any other type of cold liquid.
Thus, there is a clear need for an improved dispensing device that can be easily attached to a pre-existing refrigerator. Such a device would allow external access to liquid stored within the refrigerator without necessitating that the refrigerator door be opened. Such a device would also be capable of dispensing several different liquids and would provide means to allow the user to choose which liquid is to be dispensed. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides further related advantages as described in the following summary.